Fire-alarm box.



J. J. GHEGAN.

PIRE ALARM BOX.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 1, 1913. 1,123,122. Patented 1380.29, 1914.

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J. J'. GHEGAN.

PIRE ALARM BOX. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 1, 191s.

Patented Dec. 29,1914.

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FIRE-ALARM 139K.

Application filed August 1, 1913.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that l, JOHN J. GHEGAN, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of NewJersey, have invented a certain new and useful lmprovement in Fire-AlarmBoxes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates mainly toy lire alarm boxes in which there is amake and break signaling means and a sheet ol' glass which has to bebroken before the signal can be given at the vcentral station, and themain object of the invention is to so provide an eilicient and simpleconstruction of mechanism, whereby the breaking of the glass will setthe signaling means into operation t0 give at the central station thesignal, indicating from which box it comes.

A further object of my invention is to so construct this mechanism thata new sheet of glass cannot be put and held in position without settingthe signalinV means, and that the mechanism cannot be tampered with byany one who has not a key to the box.

A Jfurther object is to so construct the mechanism that the box can betested without opening it or resetting it or sending in a regularsignal.

These objects l attain by the construction which I will now describe.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a face view of the box; Fig. 2is a front elevation with the hinged door removed; Fig. 3 is a frontelevation ot the control means, after the glass has been broken, and thesetting lever about to be released; Fig. 4 is a vertical section on theline effi, Fig. 1; Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are views of the circuit closingdevices in different positions; Fig. 9 is a perspective view of thesetting lever, spindle and arms on the latter.

The inclosing box A may be of any suitable construction, such as shownin the drawing, with a hinged front door B, which is adapted to belocked by a suitable key lock C, so that no one without a key can gainaccess to the mechanism to tamper with it.

This door has an opening D for the insertion of a suitable setting keyto test the signal. rlhe door has also a relatively large opening E infront of the sheet of glass G, which is to be broken to set free thesignaling mechanism and which is mounted as hereinafter described.

Specification of Letters Eatent.

Fatenteol Dec. 29, 12ML.

Serial No. 782,485.

F is the setting lever which is mounted upon the spindle 10 of 'theusual clockwork mechanism, contained within the case H, Figs. and -1ano. secured to the insulating base el at the back of the box Thissetting lever F is preferably not rigidly secured to the spindle, but ismounted thereon so as to be free to have a limited independent rotarymotion thereon. For this purpose, l provide this lever F, as shown inFig.4 9 with a hub 11, having a pin 12, which when the lever and its hubare slipped into position on the spindle, will lie back et the stop arm13, which is ixed to the spindle, as l indicated in Fig. 5. lt now thesetting lever be turned clock-wise by hand, as 'rom the positionindicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2 to the position shown by full linesthereinthe setting position-the spindle 19 will be rotated accordinglyto wind up the spring ot' the clock-work.

The setting lever F is adapted to be held in the set position bythe-glass Gr, which is held edgewise between a tixed Ibar 26 mounted onthe case rl and a lever 20, hinged at 18 to the case. rlhis lever 2O hashinged to its free end at 17, a latch 16 which is guided in a guidepiece 23 and has a catch 19 at its upper end to engage over a pin 15 onthe setting lever F to hold the latter in the set position, as shown inFig. 2. 1li light coiled pull spring 22 may be employed, connecting thelatch bar 16 with a lixed pin 21 on the casing l to tend to pull thelever 2O and latch downward when freed from the setting lever F.

l preier to make the glass plate G in the form of a circular disk and to'form in the bar 2S and lever 20 corresponding curved grooves to holdthe glass under stress edgewise; when the glass is in position betweenthe bar 26 and lever 20, it holds down thc lever F in the set positionthrough the latch bar 1G. rlhe strain on the Olass plate, being j in thedirection ot its plane, it holds with great strength, and yet when theplate broken by a blow on its face, there will be an instant release ofthe lever 20, and the clock mechanism will begin to turn the settinglever F in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3, drawing up the latch 16and lever On this latch l form a cam iiace 24- bearing against a fixedpin 25 on the casing lil, so that as the latch bar rises, its ynose 19is pushed oil the pin 15, and the lever F is free to continue its dottedlines in Fig. 2, sending, in three or four or'as many rounds of itssignal as it V from being pulled over too far in getting itglass.

may be constructed to give under the action of the clock-work. The pin25 may also serve as a stop to prevent the setting lever to settingposition. On putting a new disk of glass in place between the bar 2G andlever 20, the setting lever can be latched and heldin seti position, butit cannot ybe so set and 4held'until the glass is put in place.. Andon'the other hand, the glass cannot be held in place until the lever Fhas been set and the latch 13 engages and holds this lever F. rIheopening` E in the cover is "at such a point that when the glass isbroken, access cannot be had to the lever F to send in a new signal, orto otherwise tamper with the mechanism, lwithout having the door 13opened by some one having a proper locking key.

I have heretofore referred to the fact that the setting lever Fis notfixedly secured to the spindle 10. The ultimate purpose of this lostmotion between the lever F and the spindleis to permit a test signal tobe sent in without disturbing the setting for the regular alarm signal.For this purpose the forward end of the spindle 10 is made polygonal andis accessible through the opening Din the cover B ofthe box, Fig. 1, anda suitable test key is provided to fit on this end of the spindle. Bymeans of the key, the spindle 10 may be turned clockwise withoutdisturbing the lever F and suHiciently to cause the clock work to thenturn the break wheel 30, Figs. 5 to 8, contraclockwise one completerevolution before the arm 13 on the spindle Lgets back from the positionFig. 6 to the position, F ig; 5 in contact with the pin 12 on the hub ofthe lever F, which will then hold the mechanism from further movementuntil the lever F is in' turn released for the sending in of the regularround of signals by the breaking ofthe In some cases it is desirablethat this test signal should not be the same as one vround of theregular signal, but merely a momentary breaking or closing of thecircuit to see ifthe circuit is in working order.l I therefore providemeans, as shown in Figs. 5 to 3 whereby a singlebreaking or closing ofthe circuit is given on this test. In passing,yI may observe that myinvention may be applied to either closed circuit lor open circuit work.In the drawings I have vshown a closed circuit system, the break wheel30 being of insulating material and being adapted toact upon theprojecting finger 31 of one of a pair of springs 32,

and 33, which are mounted on the insulating piece'36 and connectedrespectively to circuit wires 34 and 35.` When the projecting parts ofthe break wheel 30 bear against On the spindle 10 ismounted an arm 14vl(Fig. 9), which' is to cooperate with the cammed Lipper end 44 of alever 43, pivoted at 42 to a Xed part of the frame. VAgbent spring .41tends to press the upperv end of this lever 43 toward the arm'14.' rIhelower end of the lever 43 has a pin or equivalent projection 40 vinposition'to press against the projecting end 39 ofthe spring 31 (Fig. 7)when the upper endL of the lever 43 is pressed outwardly by the arm 14.

In Fig. 5, the parts are shown in the normal Lset position, with the endof the arm 14 resting against the upper side ofthe cam 44 of the lever43, and with thel circuit held closed at 32, 33 by the break wheel 30.If now it isdesiredto make av test of the line the spindle 10 is turnedclockwise by the test key, to an extent which will carry the arm14-below the cain 44, as

seen in Fig. 6. The clockwork then causes the-break, wheel 30 to turninthe direction of its arrowinthis figure, permitting the linger 31 ofspring 32 to drop into the first notch as seen in Fig. 6, and to b`reakcontact with the vspring 33, but before the l vspring 32 can drop intothe next notch, the

arm 14 moving in the direction of its arrow, Fig. G, will have actedupon the cam 44 again, and pushed the lever 43 over so that its pin 40will have pressed on the end 39 of spring l32 to keep the latter pressedlagainst 33 vand the circuit closed until the parts have reached theirseveral positions of rest again shown in Fig. 5.

In Fig. 3, vI have shown the positions of lthe parts after the fulllround of regular signals has been given on the release of the lever F,and when the latter has been turned v back by the clockwork to the catedby dotted lines` in Fig. 2. I claim as my inventionz-k 1. A fire alarmboX having a makeand break signaling means and a hand lever to turn saidsignaling means to the set position in combination with a'glass plate tohold said lever in the set position., but to release itwhen the glassplate is broken.

.2." A fire alarm box, having a make and break signaling means, a handlever to turn position indisaid signaling means to" the set position andY a latch to yhold the :leverjin combination with a glass plate 'to holdsaid'catoh and lever but to release them when the glass plate is broken.

3. A lire alarm boXfhaving a make and Y 130 break signaling means andvanr operating lever, with a glass plate set under stress edgewise bysaid lever to hold said means in the set position, whereby on breakingthe glass plate, said signaling means will operate.

4. A fire alarm boX, having a make and break signaling means and a leverto set said means in combination with a glass plate set under stressedgewise to hold said lever in the set position but to release it whenthe glass plate is broken.

5. A fire alarm box, having amake and break signaling means, a lever toset said means and a latch to hold the lever, in oombination with aglass plate set under stress edgewise to hold said latch and lever butto release them when the glass plate is broken.

6. A lire alarm boX, having a make and break signaling means, a lever toset said means and a latch to hold the lever, in combination with afixed bar and a lever carrying the latch, a glass plate set edgewisebetween the bar and latch lever to hold the latter and the settinglever, but to release them when the glass is broken.

7. A lire alarm box, having a make and break signaling means, and alever to set the same, in combination with a circular glass disk setunder stress edgewise by said lever to hold the latter in the setposition but to release it when the glass plate is broken.

8. A fire alarm boX, having a make and break signaling means and a handlever to turn said signaling means to the set position, in combinationwith a glass plate to hold said lever in the set position and meanswhereby the lever cannot be held set until the glass plate has been putin place.

9. A fire alarm boX, having a make and break signaling means and a leverto set the same, in combination with a glass plate to hold said lever inthe set position, a locked door for the box having an opening, and aglass back of the opening, the latter being at a point from which thelever is inaccessible from the outside when the glass is broken.

10. A fire alarm box, having a make and break signaling means includinga clockwork and spindle thereon, a lever to set said signaling means andmountedon said spindle with a lost motion, in combination with a glassplate to hold the lever in set position, and a key mea-ns to turn thespindle independently of the lever.

11. A fire-alarm boX, having a make and break signaling means, a leverto set the same and a glass plate to hold the lever in the set positionbut to release it when the glass is broken, in combination with meansfor operating the make and break signal mechanism without releasing theset lever and devices for preventing said mechanism from giving a fullsignal when so operated.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this speciiieation, in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN J. Gl-IEGAN.

`Witnesses FREDERICK Hoi/rien, HUBERT HowsoN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

